Interview with Rosie OHara, author of No More Bingo Dresses, Using NLP to cope with Breast Cancer and Other People

Following the phenomenal reaction around the world to Keith Hern's book on throat cancer and NLP (Bangers and Mash), including his appearance on ITV's This Morning as an advocate for throat cancer awareness, the forthcoming book on NLP and breast cancer from Rosie O'Hara is eagerly awaited. Rosie is an NLP practitioner herself, so the book goes in to a lot of detail on the techniques she used. We pinned Rosie down briefly after a weekend of training NLP Practitioners (and Belly Dancing in between she tells us) in sunny Aberdeen for a quick interview. Why was writing No More Bingo Dresses important to you? As a Licensed NLP Trainer I believe ‘walking my talk’ is important and sharing what I’ve done with NLP is important too. And my young friend Sam (32 and mum of 2 small children) asked me to share my then diary and my sometimes dark humour with other people. Why is ‘coping with other people’ in the title along with ‘coping with cancer’? Curiously I found coping with other people was more of a challenge in some ways and using my knowledge of NLP was a great way of understanding it’s not about them (or me) personally, more about their reactions and the generalised reaction to the ‘C’ word. And NLP helped me refrain from screaming at times;) As well as helping me to resolve issues and cope better. Who is the book intended for? Anyone, please anyone. I found it interesting that it was easier to get guys to review the book and write something, some women got very stuck at parts. Guys can get breast cancer too (7 year old Leon tells you that in his Youtube Video) is one thing to bear in mind. And 1 in 3 of us is affected by cancer in some way and those of us who have had cancer would just like someone to speak to. And I and my young friend Sam would like more of us to talk about breast cancer and I would like people to be aware that you don’t have to have or have had ‘cancer in the family’ – I’m the first in our family to have had cancer. You talk a lot about that fact that you ‘had cancer’ Yes the past tense, I had cancer. Also I, in no way regard myself as a ‘survivor’ nor did I ‘battle’ – all very tiring to me. I have a life to get on with; it was not in my plan for the year 2009. I needed my energy for other things. Why are Bingo Dresses in the title? Well I’d like you to read the book and find out what a Bingo Dress is please;) The book had 2 other titles previous to this one, the first one a couple of male friends didn’t like, the second had already been used and this title came from a conversation I did for an intro chat to ‘The Strong Breast Revolution’ a play at Edinburgh Festival in 2009 when talking to another friend Sam about boobs and also a late night conversation on we need to change the title with my friend Susan as we searched for a striking image for the cover. Do you advocate this as alternative therapy? Reading therapy yes! What I did and am doing is for me. I think everyone needs to make their own informed choice of what is right them. I would however love all caring professionals to learn and embrace NLP listening and questioning skills, to learn about ‘Model of the World’ and ‘Rapport’ as well as skills for maintaining their own good and useful state and being aware of what impact language has on themselves and others. So what are you doing with life now? Using NLP to enable myself and others enhance our lives and those of others. Writing some new courses for training health care professionals, and continuing to work using NLP to develop leaders. And most importantly continuing to enjoy life. No More Bingo Dresses is available from all good bookstores worldwide including Amazon, via Amazon Kindle, and iBooks (for the iPad and iPhone). The book is an ideal resource for cancer patients, their family and friends and indeed NLP practitioners. The extensive glossary in the book covers all the NLP terms used, and Rosie's frank and open style makes the book very easy to read. You can read more about Rosie's story in the Rosie O'Hara blog and for an introduction, check out her introductory video on YouTube. You can also contact Rosie through her website NLP Highland.

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